Research Article Glycerine Treated Nanofibrillated Cellulose Composites Esra Erbas Kiziltas, 1,2 Alper Kiziltas, 1,3 Behzad Nazari, 4 Douglas J. Gardner, 1 and Douglas W. Bousfield 4 1 Advanced Structures and Composites Center, University of Maine, Orono, ME 04469, USA 2 e Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (T ¨ UB ˙ ITAK), Tunus Caddesi, Kavaklıdere, 06100 Ankara, Turkey 3 Department of Forest Industry Engineering, Faculty of Forestry, University of Bartin, 74100 Bartın, Turkey 4 Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Maine, Orono, ME 04469, USA Correspondence should be addressed to Esra Erbas Kiziltas; esrabiyo@hotmail.com Received 20 January 2016; Revised 14 March 2016; Accepted 28 March 2016 Academic Editor: Wanshuang Liu Copyright © 2016 Esra Erbas Kiziltas et al. is is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Glycerine treated nanofibrillated cellulose (GNFC) was prepared by mixing aqueous nanofibrillated cellulose (NFC) suspensions with glycerine. Styrene maleic anhydride (SMA) copolymer composites with different loadings of GNFC were prepared by melt compounding followed by injection molding. e incorporation of GNFC increased tensile and flexural modulus of elasticity of the composites. ermogravimetric analysis showed that as GNFC loading increased, the thermal stability of the composites decreased marginally. e incorporation of GNFC into the SMA copolymer matrix resulted in higher elastic modulus (  ) and shear viscosities than the neat SMA copolymer, especially at low frequencies. e orientation of rigid GNFC particles in the composites induced a strong shear thinning behavior with an increase in GNFC loading. e decrease in the slope of elastic modulus with increasing GNFC loading suggested that the microstructural changes of the polymer matrix can be attributed to the incorporation of GNFC. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images of fracture surfaces show areas of GNFC agglomerates in the SMA matrix. 1. Introduction In the past twenty years, much attention has been devoted to the study and development of polymer nanocompos- ites using various nanofillers including clay, silica, carbon nanotubes, and cellulose nanofibers [1, 2]. Recent years, in particular, have seen a large global interest regarding cellulose nanocomposites. National and international meetings of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Society of Wood Science Technology, Forest Products Society, American Chemical Society, and Technical Association of the Pulp and Paper Industry have covered the subject of cellulose nanocomposites. Interest throughout the last decade in the subject has also led to an increase in the number of publications on the preparation of cellulose nanofiber reinforced composites (including nanofibrillated cellulose (NFC), microfibrillated cellulose (MFC), cellulose nanocrys- tals (CNC), bacterial cellulose (BC), and electrospun cellu- lose nanofibers (ECN)). Interest is also reflected through the increasing number of review papers which provide detailed information on the production of cellulose nanofibers, pro- cessing, and characterization of cellulose nanocomposites and new developments, with particular emphasis on their applications [3–12]. Because of its unique properties, NFC has received considerable attention for the preparation of green nanocom- posites with polymer matrices. Such properties include high strength, high stiffness, low density when compared to glass fibers, ease of chemical modification attributable to a natural advantage of an abundance of hydroxyl groups on the surface of NFC, and biodegradability [3, 13–16]. e potential benefits associated with NFC have been confirmed; however, uniform dispersion of NFC remains a challenge in exploiting the exceptional properties of NFC [17]. To improve the compatibility at the fiber-matrix interface and dispersion of NFC, various methods have been adopted, including the use of surfactants, functionalization of NFC, and the use of carrier systems in NFC-polymer nanocomposites [15, 16, 18– 25]. One of the main challenges to address is the stability of NFCs in suspension, which is a difficult impediment to Hindawi Publishing Corporation Journal of Nanomaterials Volume 2016, Article ID 7851308, 9 pages http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2016/7851308